On January 12, 2012, ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, will open the next big thing, new top-level domains, that could trigger a dramatic expansion of the Internet and launch a new era of online innovation. We are familiar with .com, .org, .net, among the roughly two dozen generic top-level domains currently occupying the Internet’s addressing system. Hundreds, possibly thousands of new gTLDs, could be moving in within a year. The program is not without risks and not for everyone. Understanding the marketing opportunities, the application process, and the program’s built-in trademark protections is important even if a new gTLD is not for you."

Rod Beckstrom

Rod Beckstrom is a highly successful entrepreneur, founder and CEO of a publicly-traded company, a best-selling author, avowed environmentalist, public diplomacy leader and, most recently, the head of a top-level federal government agency entrusted with protecting the nation's communication networks against cyber attack.

Throughout 2008, Rod served as the Director of the National Cybersecurity Center (NCSC) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he reported to the Secretary of DHS, and was charged with cooperating directly with the Attorney General, National Security Council, Secretary of Defense, and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Prior to joining DHS, he served on the DNI's Senior Advisory Group. Rod is unique in having experienced the inner workings of two, highly-charged, often competing, federal security agencies created in the wake of the September 11th attacks, an event that he says, "changed my life."

Rod is widely regarded as a pre-eminent thinker and speaker on issues of cybersecurity and related global issues, as well as on organizational strategy and leadership. He is also an expert on how carbon markets and "green" issues affect business. While Director of the NCSC, Rod developed an effective working group of leaders from the nation's top six cybersecurity centers across the civilian, military and intelligence communities. His work led to his development of a new economic theory that provides an explicit model for valuing any network, answering a decades-old problem in economics.

Rod co-authored four books including The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, a best-selling model for analyzing organizations, leadership styles, and competitive strategy. The Starfish and the Spider has been translated into 16 foreign editions and is broadly quoted.
At age 24, Rod started his first company in a garage apartment and, subsequently, grew it into a global enterprise with offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Geneva, Sydney, Palo Alto, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong. CATS Software Inc., went public and later sold. Nobel Laureates Myron Scholes and William F. Sharpe served on the company's boards of directors and advisors. While at CATS Rod helped advance the financial theory of "value at risk," now used globally for all key banking risk management. Rod co-edited the first book to introduce "value at risk." Rod also co-founded Mergent Systems, a pioneer in inferential database engines, which Commerce One later acquired for $200 million. He has co-launched other collaborations, software, and internet service businesses, as well. From 1999 to 2001, he served as Chairman of Privada, Inc, a leader in technology enabling private, anonymous, and secure credit card transactions over the internet.

In 2003, Rod co-founded a global peace network of CEO's which initiated Track II diplomatic efforts between India and Pakistan. The group's symbolic actions opened the borders to people and trade, and contributed to ending the most recent Indo-Pak conflict. It's one of several non-profit groups and initiatives Rod has started. He now serves on the boards of the Environmental Defense Fund, which Fortune Magazine ranked as one of the seven most powerful boards in the world and Jamii Bora Trust an innovative micro-lending group in Africa with more than 200,000 members.

He is a graduate of Stanford University with an MBA and a BA with Honors and Distinction. He served as Chairman of the Council of Presidents of the combined Stanford student body (ASSU) and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Rod commenced as President and CEO of ICANN on 1 July 2009.

Naseem Javed

Naseem Javed is recognized as a world authority on global naming and corporate nomenclature issues. Naseem founded ABC Namebank in Toronto and New York thirty years ago; as CEO, he is currently helping organizations to cope with the upcoming completely upside down world of global naming challenges. A new book by Naseem on gTLD business models, examples and naming issues is being released on January 12 2012, entitled Domination, The gTLD Name Game.

Roland LaPlante

Roland LaPlante is the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Afilias. Mr. LaPlante directed the marketing and launch of .INFO in 2001, the first -- and most successful -- new TLD ever launched. An accomplished marketing expert, Mr. LaPlante oversaw the successful applications for and launches of six new TLDs and has supported the growth of 10 ccTLDs on behalf of Afilias.

Mr. LaPlante's 30-year career in marketing includes both consumer and B2B experience. He has held senior marketing positions at McGraw Hill, Providian Corporation, Citibank, Heublein. and Procter and Gamble. Before joining Afilias, he was Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Xlibris, an Internet publishing company based in Philadelphia.

Mr. LaPlante holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Amos Tuck.

Kristina Rosette

Kristina Rosette is a special counsel in the Washington office whose practice focuses on domain name, Internet, and trademark matters.

Ms. Rosette has unique expertise in domain name matters. She completed in October 2011 a five-year term as an Intellectual Property Constituency representative on the ICANN Generic Names Supporting Organization Council, which develops and recommends to the ICANN Board of Directors the substantive policies relating to the domain name system, including such matters as generic top level domains (gTLDs) and Whois.

Ms. Rosette is deeply involved in ICANN policy development relating to the introduction of new gTLDs, Whois, and abusive domain name registration and use. As a GNSO Councilor, she drafted the policy recommendations that now guide the introduction of new gTLDs.Â Ms. Rosette played a leading role in the creation (and was a member of) the ICANN Implementation Recommendation Team, the 18-person global team of trademark experts who designed and recommended trademark protections for the introduction of new gTLDs. She negotiated the terms and passage of an important GNSO Council motion that ended the policy development process on Whois and avoided radical change to it; wrote and implemented the IPC Supplemental Request for Information on Domain Tasting that provided trademark owners with the opportunity to articulate to ICANN the harms caused by domain tasting; and drafted policy recommendations to curb domain tasting. Ms. Rosette regularly advises clients on ICANN policy developments. She has reclaimed over 500 domain names from cybersquatters and other registrants through negotiation, arbitration, and litigation.

Ms. Rosette develops and implements offensive and defensive global domain name registration, Internet monitoring, and Internet enforcement strategies. She advises clients on issues ranging from the use of keywords and sponsored links to the use of trademarks in search engine optimization to strategies for identifying and responding to cybersquatting. Ms. Rosette frequently conducts intellectual property audits of websites, and has the leading role within the firm on writing client alerts and advising firm clients on ICANN, legislative, and case law developments relating to domain names, and trademark-related Internet issues.

In her trademark practice, Ms. Rosette advises clients on trademark selection, clearance, prosecution, registration, and enforcement matters in the United States and many foreign countries. She is principal trademark counsel to, among others, a luxury casino hotel resort, two national sports federation, a global satellite company, and a leading distributor of financial services and products.